Jennie Geisler: Cocoa pancakes: Valentine’s Day treat

You don’t have to cover the bed with rose petals to show you love someone on Valentine’s Day. (Or any other day, for that matter. That would make a terrible mess.)

In fact, flowers, while beautiful and always welcome, are probably the least bang for your buck considering their markup on Feb. 14.

All you really need are a batch of pancake batter, ¼ cup of cocoa powder, a heart-shaped cookie cutter and 15 minutes to say, “I love you.” Some powdered sugar might be nice, too.

Just whisk the cocoa powder into the batter. Add a few mini-chocolate chips if you have them. Make pancakes a little bigger than your cookie cutter. When they’re done, use the cookie cutter to cut the pancakes into heart shapes, dust by sprinkling powdered sugar through a sieve and serve. (The scraps, by the way, make excellent little snacks as you go.)

If you have time, breakfast is a great time for pancakes, but breakfast for dinner can make any day feel special with a minimum of cost and fuss. Add some sausage, bacon and/or eggs, and your work is done. Add raspberries or sliced strawberries to squeeze in a fruit serving and the mandatory red color.

Maybe spread out a red tablecloth and place a small valentine in the place for each diner, if you’re really inspired, but chocolate, heart-shaped pancakes don’t require much more ado.

Notes: The original recipe called for red food coloring, but I left it out since they’re already darkly colored from the cocoa powder. Plus, dark brown (think chocolate) is as much a Valentine’s Day color to me as red.

To make these heart-shaped, I used large cookie cutters to cut out the centers of 4- to 6-inch round pancakes after they were cooked. The original recipe said to pour the batter into the cookie cutters while they cooked, but that sounded like a pain in the neck to me. The scraps are just as tasty as the shapes.

Other tips from Jessica Brown, advanced baking instructor at Culinary and Wine Institute at Mercyhurst University, North East Campus:

— Reuse your old squeeze bottles, such as those used for ketchup, and fill them with the pancake batter using a funnel. You can squeeze the batter into better circles with more control over their size than pouring them from a ladle or measuring cup.

— Don’t have the pan so hot that it burns the fat, such as spray or butter. Use moderate heat and don’t add the fat until you’re ready to put pancakes in.

— Use a nonstick skillet and only put the fat in once. Don’t add fat after each pancake.— Jennie Geisler can be reached on Twitter: @ETNGeisler.

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